


let it rest

by soleilsmooches



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 21:52:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13690560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soleilsmooches/pseuds/soleilsmooches
Summary: What is it about lost dogs that brings people together?





	let it rest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [buttonsoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttonsoo/gifts).



> for tayler for the chansoo nye exchange!!! happy belated valentine's, mwah mwah MWAH!!
> 
> a little rough since i'm still figuring out this whole chansoo thing, hopefully it's passable <3
> 
>  
> 
> i had function by justin martin & ardalan stuck in my head while writing so the doc for this was titled 'at the function i bake my ass'

It’s a Tuesday afternoon when Baekhyun comes bursting into Kyungsoo’s bakery and starts to talk before the bell above the door even stops ringing.

“Alright, Soo, Jongdae is bringing our friend in and they’re just a few blocks behind - I ran here ahead of them, it’s like over thirty degrees outside, can I have some water? - and he’s going to need all the help he can get so if you can like, work your magic-,”

He finally stops to take a breath and Kyungsoo watches him apprehensively before he turns to fill a glass with water from the tap. It chills with a touch and a murmured spell and Baekhyun takes it gratefully when Kyungsoo hands it over.

Baekhyun downs the whole thing and then grins, vaguely sheepish, and reaches up to push his sweaty hair out of his face.

“Our friend Chanyeol lost his dog,” he says, still a little breathless. “He’s like… inconsolable. A complete wreck.”

Kyungsoo drums his fingers on the counter and purses his lips. “And you’re looking for me to… console him.”

Baekhyun’s grin widens. “You’re like, extremely good at it.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and goes to his display case of pastries. “It’s not _me,_ it’s my baking. And the spells.” There’s a tray of sugar cookies that Kyungsoo starts to consider charming, even before he’s actually agreed to help.

Baekhyun hums. “That’s true. You’re not exactly known for your immediately warm and welcoming personality.”

Kyungsoo deigns not to respond to that one. He did sort of walk into it.

The bell at the front of the shop jingles once more and Kyungsoo straightens just in time to see Jongdae shuffle in with one arm around a man who must be this Chanyeol person Baekhyun had mentioned. He’s very tall, with a mop of brown curls and his face is twisted into one of the most miserable expressions Kyungsoo has ever seen.

He looks like he’s been crying for a few days in a row, honestly, and Kyungsoo makes a note to ask how long the dog has been missing.

“It seems like only yesterday we were playing together in his favourite park,” Chanyeol is saying, scrubbing at his cheeks with the hand he doesn’t have wrapped tightly in Jongdae’s shirt.

“It _was_ only yesterday, actually,” Jongdae tells him mildly.

And there’s Kyungsoo’s answer but it’s apparently the wrong thing to say; Chanyeol lets out a honky sob that reminds Kyungsoo a lot of a goose with bronchitis.

“I’m already forgetting his _face,_ I’m the worst dad of all _time-,_ ”

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun interrupts gently, shuffling over with one hand outstretched to gesture him in. “Come meet Kyungsoo. You can have a nice pastry, it’ll make you feel better.”

Chanyeol finally looks up and sees Kyungsoo and jumps, like he didn’t expect there to be anyone else there. Which seems odd, but Chanyeol himself seems a bit… odd.

“Hello,” Kyungsoo says.

Chanyeol blinks his puffy eyes and his mouth sort of twitches in one corner. A valiant attempt at a smile that doesn’t quite make it much further than that before he starts to sniffle again.

“Hi,” he says. His voice wobbles and he swipes at his runny nose with the back of his hand. “I’m Chanyeol.”

“Go sit,” Baekhyun says, catching Chanyeol delicately around the wrist - the one he’d used to wipe his nose - and leading him away from a relieved looking Jongdae.

Chanyeol sits obediently. Kyungsoo looks him over once, up and down, before he turns back to his pastry display and carefully selects a piece of the chocolate cake he’d baked this morning.

He presses his palm flat against the bottom of the plate and lets just a little bit of magic sink into the cake. It’s a spell for warmth and calm, nothing particularly complicated, but it should be enough to take the edge off of Chanyeol’s despair.

He’s still sniffling when Kyungsoo sets the pastry in front of him, nose red and eyes puffy and just generally sort of a pathetic sight. Kyungsoo brushes his hands off on his apron as Chanyeol’s gaze flickers from the cake to Kyungsoo, then back and forth again.

“Eat it,” Kyungsoo says after the pause stretches just a little too long. “You’ll feel better.”

Chanyeol manages a wobbly smile that doesn’t look false at all. It makes Kyungsoo’s chest feel warm from the inside out.

“Is it magic?” Chanyeol jokes as he picks up his fork.

“Yes,” Kyungsoo deadpans.

His magic isn’t a secret, exactly. But it’s not like most people would believe it if he were to tell them he’s, well, a baking witch.

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow and sniffles once more before pressing his fork into soft layers of chocolate sponge. There’s something magical about the first bite of a pastry, charmed or not, and Kyungsoo never gets tired of watching it happen.

It feels a bit like time slows down as Chanyeol lifts the fork to his lips, as his mouth opens to take the bite of cake. Kyungsoo feels himself smiling, despite himself.

And then Chanyeol starts to chew slowly. His brows come together. He makes a soft, sweet little sound and Kyungsoo knows the charm is starting to work.

He takes a second bite, and then a third. He seems like the type to inhale food when it’s set in front of him, but he’s putting each forkful in his mouth one at a time instead of shoveling it in, chewing at an acceptable pace.

Kyungsoo leans back against the counter behind him and lets himself relax. Over Chanyeol’s shoulders he can see Jongdae and Baekhyun watching, anxious still but seeming to realize that the magic is actually helping.

Chanyeol sniffles once more and knuckles at his eyes. This time, when he smiles up at Kyungsoo, it brightens his whole face. There’s chocolate lining his teeth, but it’s more endearing than anything.

“Kyungsoo, right?” Chanyeol asks, voice still sort of tender, like a bruise. Kyungsoo nods and Chanyeol’s smile goes even brighter. “Thank you, Kyungsoo.”

And then he ducks his head in a disarmingly polite and _very_ cute little bow.

Kyungsoo drums his fingers on the counter again before he straightens up, dusts off his apron again so he doesn’t have to look directly at Chanyeol. “Do you want another slice?”

Chanyeol beams.

\--

Chanyeol finishes his second slice of cake and is in much higher spirits by the time Jongdae and Baekhyun finally lead him out of the bakery. It’s nearly closing time for Kyungsoo by now, time to prep a few things tomorrow and wipe down and head home.

The warmth in his chest from his visit with Chanyeol persists as he carefully packs away the day’s extra pastries and preps some ingredients. He’s going to make bread tomorrow, he thinks. He likes making bread - kneading the dough is soothing, and waiting for it to rise will give him some time to have a nice cup of tea and catch up on his reading.

At the back of his mind, maybe spurred on by that unfamiliar warmth swelling inside of him, he wonders if Chanyeol will be back tomorrow. Kyungsoo thinks abstractly that he’d probably be good at the kneading part. Maybe not so much the waiting, though.

\--

Baekhyun and Jongdae show up the next day in the late morning just as Kyungsoo is pulling a tray of macaroons out of the oven.

“Ohh, gimme one!” Baekhyun is reaching across the counter and Kyungsoo considers letting himself burn his fingers on the baking sheet but pulls it away at the last second.

“They’re not done yet, you animal,” he says with a sniff. “They need dipping.”

Baekhyun pouts but slips into a comfortable lean against the counter, quirking an eyebrow at Kyungsoo as he starts to carefully move the macaroons onto a cooling rack. He can feel both of them watching as he presses a bit of magic into each cookie, just a tiny insurance spell to make sure none of them go dry or too solid. Neither Baekhyun or Jongdae have any magic of their own, but they’re both sensitive enough to it that they can feel when Kyungsoo uses his.

Right on cue, Jongdae slumps across the counter. “Isn’t that kind of cheating?” he asks, resting his chin on his arms. “Using magic to make all your stuff, I mean.”

Kyungsoo shoots him a withering look and opens his mouth to explain why he’s wrong, as usual. He’s interrupted, however, by Baekhyun flopping violently across Jongdae’s back.

“Get _off-,_ ”

“It’s not cheating since he still bakes it all himself,” Baekhyun coos in Jongdae’s ear. “The magic is just another ingredient.”

“Surprisingly apt description,” Kyungsoo says, pursing his lips.

Jongdae manages to squirm his way out from under Baekhyun with some difficulty, then darts around the corner to get the counter and Kyungsoo between the two of them.

“He’s _bullying_ me,” Jongdae whines.

“You de _serve_ it,” Baekhyun croons back, wiggling his fingers in a silly but strangely threatening way. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

“Settle down, children,” he mutters, giving Jongdae a push with one oven-mitted hand. He whines again wordlessly but otherwise trots back out to settle reluctantly next to Baekhyun at the counter. “Baekhyun is right. And I don’t use magic to get people into the store or anything, I just…” He trails off, searching for the right words to explain.

“You make little baked antidepressants?” Baekhyun provides.

“So what you gave Chanyeol was like a chocolatey Xanax,” Jongdae says thoughtfully.

Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose. “That’s kind of… sure, I guess that’s the easiest way to explain it.” _To_ you _two,_ he doesn’t say.

“Speaking of,” Baekhyun says casually, which makes it blatantly clear that what he’s about to say isn’t going to be casual at all. “What’d you think of Chanyeol?”

There’s a long pause where Kyungsoo very deliberately goes back to his macaroons, adjusting them on the cooling rack before he turns and looks at Baekhyun with narrowed eyes.

“He seemed nice,” he says, and resolves to say nothing else on the subject.

Baekhyun leans across the counter with a frankly shit-eating grin and Kyungsoo resists the urge to throw something at him. “Nice, huh?”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kyungsoo says, snatching up one of his oven mitts and shooing Baekhyun and Jongdae away with it. “Out you go, I’ve got work to do. Get!”

Baekhyun giggles like a child being scolded but hops up out of his seat and catches Jongdae around the arm. “Fine, but I bet you’re gonna be seeing Chanyeol again real soon!”

”And it’s gonna be _real nice,_ ” Jongdae adds over his shoulder with a wiggle of his brows. 

In a moment of weakness, Kyungsoo flings his oven mitt across the shop at Baekhyun and Jongdae’s retreating backs.

\--

A few hours later, the bell over the door rings and Kyungsoo looks up from his mixing bowl. Chanyeol is there, looking distant and lost and about as distraught as he’d looked when he first came in yesterday. He still manages a smile for Kyungsoo, though, which Kyungsoo returns easily.

“Any luck on the dog search?”

Chanyeol’s face immediately falls again and he shakes his head. “He’s not… he’s not _anywhere,_ ” he says miserably. “I checked his favourite park, and his other favourite park, and the alleys he always runs into on our walks, and his other-other favourite park-,”

“Everywhere, then,” Kyungsoo interjects gently. He has a feeling once Chanyeol gets started he’s not going to stop and he’d rather nip that in the bud.

Chanyeol nods and his shoulders slump. He looks like he might start crying again, which Kyungsoo would rather avoid.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Chanyeol blinks up at him and Kyungsoo waves one hand vaguely. “I’ve got some macaroons that should be done setting right about-,”

The alarm on his watch goes off at that moment and Kyungsoo can’t help but smile at his timing.

“Stay here,” he says, gesturing Chanyeol over to one of the seats at the counter. “I’ll be right back.”

The macaroons have been setting in the fridge for ten minutes now and Kyungsoo knows they’ll be done - he doesn’t need his magic for that. They’re perfect when he pulls them out, the chocolate he’d dipped them in along the bottoms has gone solid and flawlessly set. He’s tempted to pop one in his mouth now, but he thinks Chanyeol needs one more than he does.

He selects a few and pulls them carefully free from the parchment paper lining the pan, arranges them in a little circle on a plate and passes a hand over them. It’s a simple spell, nothing drastic. Just something for warmth and calm and clarity like what he’d done with his cake the day before.

Kyungsoo smiles, satisfied, as he heads back out to the front of the shop.

He sets the plate of macaroons in front of Chanyeol and Chanyeol sniffles, rubs at his nose. Kyungsoo hopes he doesn’t make a habit of coming in and crying, because it seems like he’s developing a bit of a soft spot for him.

“I thought you said you made macaroons?” Chanyeol says, picking one cookie up and turning it over in his hands. “Aren’t macaroons the little like… the colourful ones?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head and leans on the counter, resting his chin in one hand. “Those are macarons. Macaroons are… well, these.” He reaches over and plucks one off of Chanyeol’s plate, holds it up to his face. “They start out the same, I suppose? With egg whites and sugar. But macaroons have all that coconut in there, and you can dip them in chocolate like I’ve done but that’s not… mandatory, or anything.”

He pauses to take a breath - he really doesn’t ever talk so much unless it’s about baking - while Chanyeol frowns at his cookie.

“I haven’t had coconut since I was a kid,” he says doubtfully. “I never really liked it.”

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow. He hates picky eaters, but he has a hunch that’s not going to be the case here. “Try it,” he says. “You’ll like it.” And then he takes an encouraging bite of his own macaroon and hums happily. Some of his best, if he does say so himself.

Chanyeol doesn’t look any less doubtful but he lifts the macaroon to his mouth and takes a tentative bite, barely half of it but it’s a start.

And then his brows come together and his cheeks pink, eyes falling shut as he chews. “Mmh,” he says.

Kyungsoo smiles and pops the other half of his own cookie in his mouth.

\--

They work their way through the plate of macaroons together and Chanyeol spends almost two hours sitting in the bakery watching Kyungsoo ice cupcakes.

He’d meant to make his bread today but by the time Chanyeol leaves it’s too late to start. He finds that he doesn’t mind so much; Chanyeol’s company had actually been kind of nice, even though Kyungsoo isn’t nearly as much of a talker as Chanyeol is.

It’d been… easy. Comfortable. As much as Chanyeol talks, he doesn’t talk too much about himself apart from a tangent or two about his lost dog - more about movies he’s seen recently, what music he’s been listening to. It turns out they have a lot of common tastes and Kyungsoo had been almost sad to see him leave.

And so, as Chanyeol had been leaving, Kyungsoo had impulsively called after him, telling him he was “welcome any time!”

Chanyeol had stared. Kyungsoo had stared back.

And then Chanyeol had cracked a blinding smile and said he would definitely, absolutely, one-hundred-percent be back.

Chanyeol is cute, Kyungsoo realizes, particularly when he’s not in tears.

\--

Chanyeol comes in mere minutes after Kyungsoo opens the shop the next morning, just as Kyungsoo is about to start on his bread.

“Oh,” Kyungsoo says. “Hello!”

Chanyeol grins at him and it’s less free than it’d been yesterday. Not the same watery thing from a couple of days ago but not nearly as bright - sort of unsure.

“Am I, um, too early?” he asks, glancing down at his shoes. “I, uh…”

Kyungsoo feels himself start to smile. “No,” he hums. “No, you’re right on time. Why don’t you come help me with this?”

It doesn’t take long for Chanyeol to settle into his comfortable stream of chatter again and Kyungsoo settles into what feels like a permanent smile.

As Kyungsoo had expected, Chanyeol does an excellent job at kneading the dough. His hands are big and sort of clumsy, but unusually gentle for their size.

Unsurprisingly, he’s not so good with the waiting part, but he does an admirable job of trying not to peer into the bowl of dough every minute or two.

He has to leave around noon, some appointment at his university - and Kyungsoo realizes with a lurching abruptness that he doesn’t actually know anything about Chanyeol except that he’s very tall, very cute, and very attached to his dog - but he promises he’ll be back later in the afternoon.

Normally, Kyungsoo wouldn’t mind the quiet. But he finds himself getting antsy while he waits; both for his dough to rise, and for Chanyeol to come back.

A walk will clear his head, probably.

\--

He locks up the shop and makes his way down the street.

He doesn’t have anywhere in particular he wants to go, but he finds himself wandering into a nearby park. Shuffling through the grass and looking up at the swaying branches above him. He can’t help but remember Chanyeol talking about his dog - how he’d checked his favourite park, his other favourite park, his other-other -

Something just ahead of him makes a loud noise and Kyungsoo jolts and stops in his tracks.

It takes him a second to process the sound, but once he does he’s not surprised when he looks back down and sees a little black dog sitting in the grass. Its fur is curly and its eyes are wide and and it chases its tail in a quick, joyful circle before it comes right up to Kyungsoo and sits down.

Kyungsoo stares. The dog tilts its head and pants, tongue out like it’s smiling.

There’s no way it’s _not_ Chanyeol’s dog.

“Of course,” Kyungsoo mumbles to himself.

The dog barks happily.

\--

The dog is surprisingly well-behaved.

It follows Kyungsoo back to the bakery with minimal prompting, trotting along and only stopping a couple of times to sniff at a street lamp or two. Kyungsoo isn’t exactly sure what he’d expected - maybe a less obedient, more wild dog. Certainly not this tiny, polite boy.

He sets out a bowl of water for the dog when they get back and leans against the counter to watch him drink from it gratefully. The dog looks awfully thirsty and Kyungsoo realizes he probably hasn’t eaten much in the last couple of days either.

He huffs out a sigh and rolls up his sleeves. He’s never baked for a dog before.

\--

A little over an hour later the front door jingles and the dog immediately jumps out of Kyungsoo’s lap.

“I _fed_ you,” he mumbles as he stands, brushing dog hair off of his pants. Loyal animals. Sure.

It’s Chanyeol at the door, of course it is - he’s standing there silhouetted by the sun, blinking down at where the dog is doing a shuffling sort of dance on the floor. Like he’s waiting for permission but is barely containing his excitement.

“Oh my god,” says Chanyeol. “Oh my _god._ ”

And then he reaches out and the dog barks and bounds over, leaps bodily into Chanyeol’s arms. Chanyeol immediately starts to cry. Big wheezy sobs mixed with joyful laughter as he spins in a circle with the dog.

It is, for lack of a better word, heart-warming.

Kyungsoo watches Chanyeol spin a couple more times, waits for his sobbing to settle into something closer to giggling before he comes out from behind the counter.

“So… that’s your dog huh?”

Chanyeol beams at him as the dog starts licking his face. “Yes! This is Toben. Where did you _find_ him?” He sounds awed, as if Kyungsoo had single-handedly saved his life and the lives of all of his family members.

Kyungsoo shrugs modestly and waves a hand out the window. “The park down the street, it’s only-,”

“His other-other- _other_ favourite park,” Chanyeol gasps. “Of _course._ ”

Kyungsoo cracks a smile. He can’t help it.

After another minute of relentless dog kisses, Chanyeol sets the dog - Toben, Kyungsoo supposes, and he makes note to ask about the name later - down on the floor and scrubs at the back of his head with one hand. “I guess I should get him home and feed him… he probably hasn’t eaten much since he ran off.”

“Oh,” says Kyungsoo, blinking. “I made him some peanut butter ball treats, so he had that at least. He looked pretty hungry but I didn’t give him too many, just in case.”

Chanyeol stares

“You… you made him treats?” He looks stunned, wide-eyed and mouth gaping. Kyungsoo shrugs.

“My bread was done and I didn’t know when you’d be back so-,”

Very abruptly he finds himself being yanked into a nearly bone-crushing hug, one that knocks the wind out of him. Chanyeol clings to him and he’s trembling, shoulders shaking with what Kyungsoo is pretty sure are shuddering sobs. Kyungsoo pats his back awkwardly.

“It’s alright, it was really no trouble-,”

“ _Thank_ you,” Chanyeol whispers raggedly. “For everything, for… I can’t ever repay you. Thank you so, so much.”

Kyungsoo wiggles away a little and sure enough, when he looks at Chanyeol’s face, it’s puffy and red again. He smiles up at him and Chanyeol smiles back, though it’s sort of wobbly.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Kyungsoo tells him, patting his back again. “Just, uh…”

He looks down and he feels his ears start to go warm. Toben is on the floor right next to them, though, and when Kyungsoo meets his dark gaze the dog lets out an encouraging little woof.

Kyungsoo smiles down at him and then back up at Chanyeol.

“Come back any time,” he says. Chanyeol blinks and opens his mouth and Kyungsoo smiles a bit wider before he can interrupt. “Preferably after I’ve closed for the day.”

Chanyeol blinks again and his mouth forms a little ‘o’. And then he’s smiling again as he starts to understand, that same bright thing Kyungsoo remembers from the day before.

“Sounds great,” he says.

At their feet, Toben woofs approvingly.


End file.
